Microsoft to create 4,000 UK jobs

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Microsoft has pledged to create 4,000 new jobs in the UK as part of a major government initiative.

The Windows, Xbox and search engine giant is one of 19 organisations taking part in a new Downing Street scheme to boost the private electronics sector.

It is not known which areas of Microsoft’s business will be targeted for the workforce surge, though the scheme exhibit’s Microsoft’s broader aim to expand business in the country.

Some of those jobs will come via the Microsoft's apprenticeships programme, which will help train unemployed young people across Britain.

Unemployment in the UK rose to 2.5 million, the Office for National Statistics said in December.

“We can only get our economy back on track by creating a climate in which the private sector can grow and develop, creating jobs and opportunities for people across the country," the Prime Minister said today.

"This year the Government is determined to help deliver many thousands of new jobs and I'm delighted that the companies joining me today are part of that.”

The coalition has come under pressure for its recent decision to scrap Labour's proposed Future Jobs Fund – which at the cost of £1 billion would have paid for temporary jobs for 18 to 24 year-olds who have been unemployed for over six months.